Defect card receptacle



Nov. 14, 1939. F- w, HAN'KINS 2,180,294

DEFECT CARD RECEPTACLE Filed July 25 1938 WI NESSES: INVENTOR- Frederick WHGJZZCUZS,

Patented Nov. 14, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIQE DEFECT CARD RECEPTACLE vania Application July 25, 1938, Serial No. 221,162

3 Claims.

- for use on railway freight cars to hold so-called defect cards, and is hereinafter explained with special reference to this use.

When a freight car in service develops a defect, it is the duty of the trainman observing it to make out a written record indicating the nature of the defect, which is placed in a receptacle provided on the car for the purpose. The Rules of Interchange, governing freight equipment on the various railroads, require that every freight car be equipped with such a receptacle. It is very important that the defect card should be securely held and preserved in the receptacle, as a notice of the defect to others afterward handling the car, as well as for the information of the repair shop, to which the car should be sent as soon as practicable. I aim to provide a receptacle which, besides meeting these requirements, will be easy and economical to manufacture and install, rugged and thoroughly water- 25 proof in service, and easy and convenient to use. Other features of the invention will appear from the following description of a species or form of embodiment, and from the drawing. All the features and combinations shown or described are of my invention, so far as novel over the prior art.

In the drawing, Fig. I is a side View of a defect card receptacle installed on a car side, the receptacle being shown with a corner broken out and in section; Fig. II is a plan view of this receptacle, with one end shown in section; and Fig. III is an end view from the left of Fig. I.

Fig. IV is an end view of the receptacle from the right of Fig. I, with the cover plate open, 40 showing the receptacle attached to an upright car wall as in service.

As here shown, the receptacle comprises a suitable length of metal tube ill with one end closed at l i, with a lateral mounting plate or bracket 5 E2 on one side of the tube, and with a swinging cover i3 at the other end of the tube. Galvanized wrought iron or steel pipe of 1%; inch size is very suitable for the tube ill, and its end may be closed at H by welding in a sheet metal'disc about inch thick, as indicated at M. The mounting or bracket plate [2 may be laterally welded to the tube ill as indicated at l5, and may be welded to the car wall 16 on which the receptacle is used along its upper and lower edges, as indicated at I l in Figs. I and IV. In practice, it is desirable to mount the device on the car side adjacent the usual destination-card holder or board (not shown). As shown in Figs. III and IV, the bracket plate I2 is interme-diately bent to provide a reentrant seat in its mid-portion, for accommodating the curved side of the tube ill; and this seat is preferably curved in an arc conformable to the curvature of the tube. At or about the ends of the curved seat, the plate l2 is reversely bent to bring'its ends back into (or beyond) the plane of its middle, so that it will lie flat against the car wall it. Accordingly, the welds l5, it at and beyond the reverse bends of the plate l2 lie well apart (a distance approximating the internal diameter of the tube ill), giving great strength of attachment of the tube to the bracket plate. Also, the edge surfaces at the ends of the plate l2 lie at an angle to one another, and hence make acute angles with the car Wall Hi to which they are welded tending toward the easy formation of very strong welds I! for attaching the plate [2 to the car wall. The tube it) may have drainage holes l8, IS in its lower side to drain out moisture of condensation from its inner surface, one of these being shown at its inner (closed) end and the other near its outer (mouth) end. The cover l3 may consist of a flat plate of sheet metal pivoted by a rive-t 20 to a flange or ear 2! extending upward from the tube Ill at its open end. This ear or lug 2! may consist of a block of metal welded to the outside of the tube along its corners 22, 22. As shown in Fig. IV, the cover plate It is a diamond-like hexagonal in outline.

As shownin Fig. IV, the cover pivot 29 extends lengthwise of the tube it, parallel with its axis, so that the cover l3 swings open and shut across the end of the tube, rather than toward and from it. Preferably, the pivot 20 is located above the bore of the tube It and to the same side of the tube axis as the bracket it, so that gravity tends to swing the cover it shut, as shown in Fig. III and in dot-and-dash lines in Fig. IV. .At the opposite side of the tube from the bracket It, the cover 83 may have a lateral projection 23, formed by bending the sheet metal of the cover at one corner, for engaging against the side or edge of the tube to prevent the cover from swinging beyond its proper closed position. The cover l3 may also have a hand portion projecting downward beyond the tube wall, to afford a convenient finger piece. As will be apparent from the full line open position of the cover it in Fig. IV, the relations of pivot 2!) and bracket l2 in this figure are such that the upward-opening swing of the cover will be limited by engagement of its corner 23 and edge 26 against the upright car wall It. If the wall It lies close enough to the tube, it may also be relied on to prevent the cover l3 from swinging beyond proper closed position; and in this case the projection 23 may be dispensed with.

In use, the receptacle is attached to the side or end of a car by the mounting plate or bracket i2, which may be welded to the car along its upper and lower edges as in Figs. I and IV. Accordingly, the thickness of the bracket plate l2 intervenes between the car wall I6 and the casing ill to space the casing from the wall. Being narrow as compared with the length of the casing W, as shown, the plate l2 provides passage between the casing and the car wall for the drainage of moisture running down the car wall in wet Weather. Normally, the cover I3 is held shut by gravity, as in Figs. III and IV. With the pivot 28 well over toward the bracket 12 and the wall 16, as in Fig. IV, and with a metal cover plate l3 about A; inch thick, and correspondingly heavy, the cover l3 will not jar open. Even if it should jar completely open, its engagement against the car wall l6 will preclude its approaching dead center over the pivot 20, so that it cannot remain open. Yet it is easily opened fully by its handle portion 25 when a defect card (not shown) is to be inserted or removed. The card may, of course, be bent or rolled for insertion in the tubelll, so as to be held securely in place by its resilient tendency to straighten out or unroll.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A card receptacle, to be aflixed to a railway car wall in horizontal position, comprising a tubular metal casing permanently closed at one end, a bracket plate attached to said casing at one side of the casing having car-wall-engaging portions in a plane substantially parallel with the axis of the casing, and a movable cover for the other end of the casing pivoted to the casing at the top thereof, about an axis off-center with respect to the axis of the casing; said cover having a portion which when the bracket plate is affixed to a car wall and the cover is turned upward above the casing, to a position short of dead-center with respect to the pivot but leaving the casing end open, extends to one side of the casing to the plane of said wall-engaging portions of said bracket plate, so as to engage the car wall and stop the cover in such position.

2. A card receptacle as set forth in claim 1 wherein the bracket plate is narrow as compared with the length of the casing and extends across the side of the casing to which it is attached, so that when said bracket plate is affixed to a car wall, its thickness intervenes between the wall and the side of the casing.

3. A card. receptacle as set forth in claim 1 wherein the bracket plate is laterally recessed to receive a rounded side of the tubular casing and is attached to said casing side along the edges of its lateral recess.

FREDERICK W. HANKINS. 

